Advice
by oleanderedits
Summary: It was not the sort of advice he'd expected to be asked for, and with the problems everyone was having, it was not exactly something he would have made a priority. (30DayOTP Prompt Challenge Day 23)


"I kind of need some advice," Glenn shifted nervously from foot to foot in front of Dale. Andrea was heading up to the roof of the RV to play lookout while the rest of the camp broke for the day. Most of them heading off for gun practice while Daryl had gone off on one of the horses to check a new area for Sophia.

Dale glanced around and then gestured for him to go inside. Glenn did so, plopping himself down on one of the bench seats next to the table. He drew his legs up, rested an arm across them, drummed his fingers idly on the cloth of his jeans.

"Well, what is it?" Dale asked, more curious than worried.

Glenn bit at his lower lip in an attempt to fight a grin. It was a battle he lost as he spoke, "Okay, so... say there's this person and they want to have sex with you... but you go and ask them about it and if they'd be up for it again and they act like you're an idiot but you know they do because they liked it but things are just really fucked up right now so they might not be up for it _now_ , but you're pretty sure they'd be up for it soon... how do you get them to, you know, talk to you... about it?"

Dale's eyebrows had risen high on his forehead. It was not the sort of advice he'd expected to be asked for, and with the problems everyone was having, it was not exactly something he would have made a priority. But Glenn was young, so it was probably to be expected. He shook his head after a moment, "Well, I suppose that depends on the person. I certainly hope it's not that Maggie girl that's been giving you eyes-"

He cut himself off at the look Glenn was giving him. It was somewhere between offended, flat out insulted, and confused. Dale sighed and held out a hand, "Look, she's a nice girl. But going after her without her father's permission could cause a lot of trouble for us. And besides, you can't know if she wants to have sex with you. So maybe you should start by asking her-"

"It's not Maggie," Glenn interrupted. His leg bounced in barely-checked aggravation. "And even if it was, I wouldn't be asking unless I knew for sure they wanted to have sex. I wouldn't be assuming it from a couple looks, okay? I know they want to have sex because we _did_ have sex."

He stood up and pushed himself out of the RV before Dale could say anything in response. He'd really thought he could go to Dale about this. Keep it discreet. Not judge him once he managed the courage to get to any details. But no, Dale had to make assumptions right off the bat and let Glenn know he was going to judge the hell out of his choices.

…

Rick found him later. Came up with a look of uncertainty and rubbing his neck. Said hello before getting right to the point, "Dale asked me to talk to you. Said you came to him for some advice earlier?"

Glenn rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, "Yeah. Not that I got any. Why'd he send you? Did he think I was lying about it not being Maggie I had sex with?"

Rick winced, clearly uncomfortable with the topic. And Glenn was, too, but he felt quite a bit of satisfaction in pushing it squarely into Rick's face. That was supposed to have been private.

"Yeah," he answered, still rubbing his neck as his eyes drifted to the ground. "Well, he thought you might be lying. But he wasn't sure. Something about Maggie being the only person you could have had sex with given any logical thought. So if you are lying... well, I really don't have a personal stake in it, but Dale's convinced that it might hurt our chances of staying on if Hershel gets wind of it..."

"Because Maggie's the only choice I have?" Glenn snapped. He huffed and pulled his shoulders up tight. "It wasn't her and I'd rather not talk about it any more, okay?"

Rick stared at him for another moment before nodding his head, looking more than a little relieved that it was over with, "Fine by me."

…

"Not that care," Andrea said in a low voice as she idly joined Glenn's side just after lunch, handing him her plate. "But word going around is you and one of the farmer's daughters have been rolling in the hay."

"Oh my god," Glenn groaned. He dropped the plate into the bin and threw his hands up in exasperation. "Has Dale been telling everyone?"

Andrea laughed, finding his discomfort adorable. She shook her head, "It's nothing to be ashamed of, but I'll tell him to stop talking about it if that will help. I don't know if he'll listen to me, though. He seems genuinely worried about what it might mean for our welcome here if Hershel finds out."

"Well, if he wouldn't stop talking about it, then Hershel wouldn't have a chance of finding anything out," Glenn bit out, stepping away from the dish bin and glaring at Andrea. She didn't really deserve his anger, but she was there. "And I didn't have sex with her. I told him that. I don't know why he won't believe me this time."

He turned and hurried away, calling loudly, "Carol! Can you do the dishes? I need to take a walk."

Carol looked up from where she was, smile strained and waved. She tried to yell back a "sure" but Glenn was out of range long before she could.

…

"Will you all please shut up?" Glenn's voice wasn't quite the level of a shout, but it was loud enough to get everyone's attention. He didn't even care that Maggie and Hershel were right there to hear him. Actually, it was better if they were. So they could all clear the air right then and there.

He turned to address his words to Dale, though he was definitely talking to most of them, "I didn't have sex with Maggie. I've never touched her. I was asking for advice about someone else. So please stop talking about it. It's dealt with. It's over. Drop it already!"

Dale opened his mouth, shut it, looked over at where Maggie and Hershel stood with raised eyebrows and annoyed expressions. He addressed his apology to them first, "Well, I didn't mean to cause trouble with the idea, but there's not many people for Glenn to have... well, and you're a very nice young woman and I know you've been looking-"

"I've been looking?" Maggie interrupted, one hand up. "I. Have been looking. At him. So what? Even if I have been, if anything like that happened between us, it would be between us. And not any of your business. And why do you think it was me anyway?"

"Because there's no other choices apparently," Glenn answered for Dale, still glaring at him.

Maggie was offended yet again, with every right to be, "Really? Yeah, sure. The world's a lot smaller and there aren't as many people around to choose from, but _really_? You are a piece of work. God. Come on Glenn, we might as well make another run into town. Least it'll get us away from the clucking hens and their gossip."

…

An hour later, on their ride back, Maggie turned to him, squinting against the sun, "So... would you be interested?"

Glenn's head shot up, his eyes wide, "Uh... well... yeah... but no?"

"Yeah but no?" She asked, laughing. "Why no?"

He shifted uncomfortably in his saddle, "I think you're pretty amazing. Really, I do. But I went to Dale for advice about someone else. I'm kind of trying to make that one work. I don't want to complicate things more."

"Okay," She said, and it didn't sound like he'd hurt her feelings in any way. "Let me know if you change your mind."

…

Daryl found him in the evening, cornered him on the far side of the porch. He pushed Glenn against the house with light fingers as he crowded the kid's personal space, "What was that about?"

"What was what about?" Glenn frowned, shoulders hunched. After the day he had he thought there must be a dozen things it could be about, but if Daryl was going to be upset at him over everyone thinking he had sex with Maggie, he was going to burst.

"With Carol," Daryl murmured, looking more than a little disconcerted. "She were in tears earlier because you were mad at her and she couldn't figure out why. Something about you yelling at her and then running off?"

Glenn's jaw dropped and he had to stare at Daryl for a long, silent moment. Just stare, blink a little, mind completely blank. Daryl seemed to understand the meaning of that and nodded slowly, taking a step back, "So it was a misunderstanding?"

"Yeah," he sighed, reaching up to rub his eyes. "I wasn't mad at her. I was... look, Dale's been hassling me all day and telling everyone something really dumb and I just needed to get away from everyone for a while. I asked her to do the lunch dishes for me. I didn't mean to yell. I'll go apologize."

Daryl's hand on his shoulder kept him in place when he tried to move off. The man chewed at his lower lip and wouldn't quite meet Glenn's eyes as he spoke into the silence between them, "This about you and the girl?"

Glenn's shoulders dropped and he winced, "Yeah. Dale's been spreading it around that we... you know... we didn't, though. I was..."

"You was what?" Daryl asked, stepping close again, eyes finally lifting to search Glenn's.

"Trying to get advice about... us," Glenn admitted, breaking the gaze and looking down, cheeks heating in shame. "I know it's not really a good time to bring it up. I do. I was just trying to figure out when it would be. And I thought maybe Dale would know... he's... well, he's old. He's lived a long time. I thought I could trust him not to talk about it. But all he's done is talk about it. And he's talking about it wrong."

"So you didn't tell him about..." Daryl clarified, shifting on his feet so he was in Glenn's personal space. Anyone getting a look at them would probably think the older man was threatening the younger.

But all Glenn could think was that it was nice to have Daryl so close again, "No. He assumed I meant Maggie and I tried to tell him it wasn't..."

Daryl's head swiveled around for a quick glance to make sure they were safely alone, then he dipped forward to close the distance between them in a brief kiss. When he pulled away, his steps backed him up all the way to the rail. His cheeks were as red as he'd tried to get Glenn's at the CDC, when they'd first hooked up. It had barely been a week since then and everything had just gone and hit them so fast. Didn't give them time to really talk about it. Process it. Deal with what it meant.

"Ain't a great time to bring it up," Daryl murmured, glancing back over his shoulder. "But uh... if you can wait? 'Til after we find Sophia? We could maybe talk then."

Glenn grinned. He couldn't help it. "Yeah. I can wait. Sorry..."

Daryl shrugged one shoulder and started walking off, "It's Carol you should apologize to. Get to it."


End file.
